Jun 1, 2017 4 min read

The West Greene softball team is looking to make school history … again.

The Pioneers will go for their second straight WPIAL Class A title – something that no team, in any sport, has done at West Greene.

After winning the program’s first WPIAL title last year – West Greene’s first WPIAL title since the 1994 wrestling team – the top-seeded Pioneers will face No. 5 seed Monessen in the Class A final on Lilley Field at California University. First pitch is 1 p.m. today.

Immediately following will be the WPIAL Class 4-A title game between Yough and Belle Vernon.

West Greene head coach Bill Simms said the experience of playing in a WPIAL final should play into his team’s hand.

“Since we were here last year and played in a nice environment with our crowd, I hope that we’ll be a little bit more settled,” Simms said.

While the Pioneers (21-1) made it to the PIAA state finals last year, Simms said his team isn’t looking past Monessen (16-5), which lost two close regular-season games to West Greene, including a 1-0 contest in late April.

“We were fortunate to win 1-0 and it was just a very tight game and every out counted. That’s the type of game we think we’re going to see,” Simms said.

Monessen also is trying to make history, as the Greyhounds are playing in their first WPIAL final in program history. Monessen head coach Bo Teets said playing fundamental defense is crucial to upsetting West Greene.

“Against a powerhouse team like West Greene, extra chances because of mistakes we make (can’t happen),” Teets said.

Junior Dana Vatakis is expected to take the mound for the Greyhounds against freshman southpaw Jade Renner. The pitching duel is a rematch of the previous two games, in which Renner came out victorious.

Vatakis has totaled more than 200 strikeouts on the season, including a 10-strikeout performance against Carmichaels in the semifinals last week. Renner is 14-1 with a 1.55 ERA on the season.

“Starting pitching is the name of the game,” Simms said. “Jade just has to hit spots, she’s got to have her changeup going. When she works fast (and) changes speeds … I like our chances with her.”

Teets said keeping West Greene’s Lampe twins off base is crucial. Sophomores McKenna and Madison Lampe hit in the top two spots of the order for the Pioneers. Centerfielder McKenna Lampe is hitting .662 with 43 stolen bases, while third baseman Madison Lampe is slugging 1.208 with 46 RBI.

“You can call them both leadoff hitters because they both do so many things so well,” Teets said. “We tried to do some things and tried to keep them off the bases and that worked during (the 1-0 loss earlier this season). Hopefully, we can replicate some of that success (today).”

In the following game, the No. 2-seeded Belle Vernon Leopards are 1-1 against top-seeded Yough (17-2) this season. Belle Vernon (18-1) lost the first matchup, 2-0, but the Leopards won the second meeting, 5-4, in 12 innings to split the Section 2 title with the Cougars, who won the PIAA Class AAA title last season.

The title game is a rematch of the 2015 WPIAL Class AAA final, in which Belle Vernon won 5-4. Last season, Belle Vernon was held out of the playoffs after forfeiting the last three games of its season for using an ineligible player.

The Leopards will throw junior pitcher Bailey Parshall, hoping for a similar outing out of the Penn State commit to the one she had in the semifinal game last week.

Parshall, who leads the WPIAL in strikeouts with 215, struck out 10 Mt. Pleasant batters en route to a 1-0 victory in the semifinals.

The game is expected to begin at 3:15 p.m.